STONY BROOK, N.Y. — Elijah Olaniyi joined an elite group and the Stony Brook men's basketball team returned to the top of the America East standings on Saturday night.

Olaniyi's second field goal of the game, a jumper with 12 minutes, 51 seconds remaining in the first half, gave the 6-foot-5 junior his 1,000th career point. He became the program's 10th player in the Division I era and 27th player overall to reach that milestone.

Stony Brook went on to defeat rival Albany, 70-62, at Island Federal Arena.

The Seawolves (13-7, 4-1 AE) returned to the top of the conference standings by handing Albany (10-9, 3-1) its first America East loss. Stony Brook also avenged Wednesday's loss at Hartford, which had snapped a five-game winning streak.

"The 1,000 meant a lot, because I didn't score 1,000 in high school," Olaniyi said. "It shows the hard work is paying off to be able to score 1,000 in college. To beat Albany is even better."

Stony Brook rattled off nine straight points — capped by three-pointers from Olaniyi and Makale Foreman — to take a 15-13 lead midway through the first half. Then, to open the second half, Andrew Garcia and Miles Latimer drained consecutive treys as the Seawolves grabbed a 36-27 lead.

Stony Brook led the rest of the way.

Garcia and Olaniyi each had 20 points.

Olaniyi produced his fourth straight double-double, this time with 11 rebounds. He is the first Stony Brook player with a string of four straight double-doubles since Jameel Warney to close the 2015-16 season.

Speaking of Stony Brook's all-time leading scorer, Olaniyi joined nine other members of Stony Brook's 1,000-point club during the Division I era: Warney (2,132 points), Bryan Dougher (1,609), D.J. Munir (1,590), Carson Puriefoy (1,572), Mitchell Beauford (1,359), Akwasi Yeboah (1,317), Dave Coley (1,228), Anthony Jackson (1,048) and Mike Popoko (1,048).

"The thing with Elijah is he's so much improved over a year ago," head coach Geno Ford said. "He would have gotten 1,000 anyway at some point in his career because he was on pace going into the season. But I just think his level of practice in the offseason and dedicating himself to becoming a better shooter and dribbler really has paid off.

"And we also have the fortune of him playing with two other guys who are going to get to 1,000. Drew Garcia is going to get to 1,000. Makale Foreman is going to get to 1,000. So teams aren't able to just come out and say, 'Oh, we're not going to let Elijah do anything and we're not going to guard these other guys.' Because we've got firepower in various spots."

The Seawolves next host another state rival. Binghamton visits Island Federal Arena on Wednesday at 7 p.m.